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The tripoint of Austria, Slovenia and Hungary

The tripoint of Austria, Slovenia and Hungary is located on a hill, east of Tauka in Austria, north-east of Kuzma in Slovenia and west of Felsőszölnök in Hungary, at 387 meters above sea level. The name of the hill means tripoint in all three languages of the bordering countries: Dreiländereck in German, Tromejnik in Slovenian and Hármashatár in Hungarian. A monument is located exactly on the tripoint of the three countries.

The tripoint area seen from the Hungarian side

Demarcation of the border

The hill, where today’s tripoint is located, was part of the Kingdom of Hungary for centuries. In 1919, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved by the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Prekmurje region of today’s Slovenia became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. However, Burgenland region, today one of Austria’s nine federal states, was still part of Hungary at that time. Therefore, the hill only marked the border between Hungary and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

With the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on September 10, 1919, the tripoint between Austria, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Hungary was set at today’s tripoint between the Austrian federal state of Styria, Burgenland and Slovenia, located roughly ten kilometers west of today’s tripoint.

Only nine months later, when the Treaty of Trianon was signed on June 4, 1920, the tripoint was moved to its present location. Since then, the tripoint also marks the westernmost point of Hungary.

The tri-border monument

The triangular tripoint monument

A triangular monument was erected in 1922, just two years after the signing of the Treaty of Trianon, on the exact tripoint between the three countries. The coat of arms of each of the three countries is engraved on the sides of the monument, which face towards the territory of the respective country. The dates of signature of the Treaties of Saint Germain and Trianon are also engraved on the monument.

During the Cold War, the tripoint was not publicly accessible, as it was part of the Iron Curtain along the Austrian-Hungarian border. On May 27, 1989, an international festival of peace took place at the tripoint, where the mayors of the nearby towns of Fürstenfeld (Austria), Murska Sobota (Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia) and Körmend (Hungary) expressed their commitment to peace and freedom in Europe.

How to get there

The middle of the forest road marks the border between Austria and Slovenia

The tripoint is accessible from all three countries. A convenient way to reach the monument is from the Austrian side of the border. From Graz or Vienna, drive in the direction of Feldbach. Continue on federal road B57, passing the town of Fehring and then take a right on B58 towards the Slovenian border. Take the exit into the village of Tauka in the federal state of Burgenland, two kilometers before the Bonisdorf/Kuzma border crossing.

You can drive as far as to the parking lot right next to the restaurant “Gasthaus Lang”, 2.3 km west of the tripoint at Kölbereck in the municipality of Tauka (Burgenland). From the parking lot, a forest road leads to the monument. Driving on that forest road is prohibited and not advisable, but you can reach the Dreiländereck on foot in just 30 minutes.

There are boundary stones along the way on both sides of the road that indicate the position of the border between Austria and Slovenia, which actually runs right along the middle of that forest road all the way to the monument.

The forest road towards the monumentLooking towards the tripoint from the Slovenian sideCommemorative plaque in Hungarian, in memory of the 1989 meeting of the three mayors

It is also possible to access the tromejnik from Slovenia, from the village of Kuzma. A walk from the parking lot closest to the tripoint should not take much longer than from the Austrian side, approximately 20-30 minutes. There is also a trail from the Hungarian village of Felsőszölnök to the hármashatár, but it appears to require a longer hike (4.5 km from the center of the village).